The Waiting Room

Victoria Bailey

Waiting to see a male specialist
For a woman’s problem
The time came and went
Powerless, I sat
Waiting
Had they forgotten about me?
Wouldn’t be the first
Time spent
Devouring a magazine mountain of media
Pages and pages and pages and pages of past
Passed looking for one grey hair
There was one photo
Of a middle-aged male model
With what could have been grey hair
At his temple
Could have been the light
It was hard to tell
The young woman draped over him
Was unquestionable
Where was I?
Not anywhere
Women, women everywhere, nor any grey
To see
My kind
Unseen, undocumented, unobserved, unwanted
Not undone
I discarded the magazines on the side table
They wobbled
Slipping slightly before finding their balance
In an awkward position
Disregarding surrounding prompts
I held my position and waited

Biography

Victoria Bailey has written for a variety of feminist organizations and publications. She  is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing with a matricentric feminist focus specifically centred on realizations and representations of single mothers over the last century.